William f



UNITED STATES PATENT e OFFICE WILLIAM FL'MoDEs, OF STREATOR, ILLINOIS.

GLASS-TANK FU RNAC.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No; 492320, dated March *7, 1893.

Application filed May 26,1'892. Serial No. 434 ,412. (No model.) i V To cZZ whom it may concrn:

work 9.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. MODES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Streator, in the county of La Salle and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Inprovements in Glass-Tank Furnaces, of which the following is a full, clear, and eX- act description. v

My invention relates to certain improvements, hereinafter described, in the construction of glass tank furnaces, by which means are provided: first, to cause the gas and air to come together and combustion take place at a point somewhat removed from the inlet opening into the, tank; second, so that the port through which the consequent products of combustion enter the tank be so formed that the fiame is directed to make contact with the material or articles being treated in the furnace; and, third, to Conveniently remove thefire blocks of which the side walls of the tank are com posed, and, therefore, the roof of the tank Sprung from supports themslves supported in such manner as to permit t iS;

In-the accompanying drawings,in which like numerals of reference deote like parts in the several figures, Figure l is a vertical section, taken centrally from end to end ot' a two-part tank furnace formed With a working out part at each end of a centrally located melting part; and Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the same, taken as on the line 2--2 in Fig. 1.

In glass furnaces of the character illustrated, provision has generally been made for an air space beneath the tank and along the sides of the same; that. is, as illustrated in the drawings, the floor l has been, in various ways, supported so as to allow an air circulation space 2 below the same, and the fire clay blocks forming the side walls 3 of the tank supported on pillars or archesindependent of the brick-work 9 in which are formed the gas flues 4 and 5, air` flues' 6, and regenerative chambers 7, so as to provide a similar air circulation space 8 along the immediate outside of the tank, between it and the side brick- For the purpose of air circulation merely, the space 8 along the sides of the tank can be comparativcly narrow and the spanning tiles 10, one end of which rests on the top of the tank side walls and the other on the tank, as specified.

It has been found, in practice, that the principal source of destruction to the fire blocks of which the side walls 3 are composed is the gall or spurious fiux which fioats on the surface of the molten glass, and, therefore, at'- fecting the tier of blocks which are on a level corresponding to the normal level of the glass line' [as G-G in the drawings] in the tank. For this reason,in my improved form of construction, I have placed the working-out holes 13 at the ends' of the furnace [see Fig. l] ata level that will, in the practical operation of the furnace, compel the glass-line G-G to be retained 'at a level below thelower edge of the i spanning tile blocks 10. The reason-of this is obvious,-If, as stated, the princip-al source of' destruction exists in a layer of material, or materials, which fioats on the surface of the glass, as a natural consequence, 'we should keep this level; vl. e., the glass-line (al-G, at point below Where it will affect the Constructional portion of the furnace that cannot be readily removed or replaced, and, to make the furnace, as a whole, more long-lived, construct it so that the parts that are exposed to the eifect of the Inolten glass and the destructive material carried thereon are readily and Conveniently removed and replaced. It is to this end that I place, in my improved furnace, the working out holes 13 at such a height, relative to the inner exposededges of the spanning tiles 10, on which are supported the gas and air port blocks and the skew back blocks 14 from which the arch of the root 15 ings 12 somewhat higher, relatively, than usual. For this reason, in connection with the fact, as herein set forth-that I desire to have the live flame make direct contact with the surface of the molten glass the portion of the fiue,lead1ng to the ports 12 from the point at which combustion takes place, is made to open downward in general direction. In order to acconplish this, and also to direct the infiowing gas, before it meets the air, upward, toward the air, I make use of in-port blocks 11, which may, as shown, comprise two sinilar wedge-shaped blocks, placed in the port space, with their wide ends abutting against each other, or a single block inclined in each direction from an apeX approximately midwayin its lengih,corresponding in longitudinal section, to the two single blocks placed in juxtaposition, as shown.

Heretofore, in glass tank practice, the efforthas been to so direct the inflow of gas and air that direct contact of the bright fiame with the material being treated is avoided, making use of the radiated h'eat alone, at the same time causing combustion to take place, practically, inside the furnace. There are serious objections to this method:- Frst, the most 'intense heat is developed at some distance [in the direction of the draft] beyond where combustion takes place. Therefore, when the furnace is used on the regenerative plan, a great deal of the live heat that should be used in the furnace proper, goes to heat the checker brick-work in the regenerative chainbers, for which, generally speaking, there is amply sufficient heat in the waste products; and, secondly, the active heat being wholly radiated does not nearly as etficiently take up the salt water and gall. as when the cross-draft is directd to inpinge on the material itself. For these reasons, I direct the flame, in my furnace, as

indicated by the a'rows 15 in Fig. 2, downwardly onto the molten glass and find, in practice, that the heated fiame will pick up, as it were, the salt water or gall and carry the same off through the regenerative chambers 7 and out at the draft stack.

As illustrated in Fig. 1,I form the spanning tiles 10 of a width-corresponding to the length of the f-urnace-capable of spanning two or more of the fire blocks, of which the side walls 3 are composed below the sane, in order to permit the side Wall blocks to be taken out singly and replaced without disturbing the spanning tiles 10; i. e., the supports from which the arch of the roof 15 is sprung.

I claiml. In a glass tank furnace, the combination with the tank side walls, and supplemental supporting wall parallel to and distantly placed therefrom, of tiles spanning the tops of said walls, skew back blocks supported on the tiles forming port openings, and from which blocks the roof is Sprung, a roof, and inclined port blocks on the tiles in the port openings for directing the products of combustion into the tank chamber, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. In a glass tank furnace, the combination with tank side walls and supplenental supporting walls parallel thereto and distantly placed therefron, of regenerator walls in juxtaposition to said supplenental supporting walls forming flues, therebetween tiles'spanning the tank side walls and supplemental supporting walls, skew back blocks forming port openings over the tank side walls and regenerative furnaces near the upper end of the regenerator walls substantially as described.

3. In a glass tank furnace, the combination with the tank side walls, of skew back blocks forning tapering ports, port blocks formed with opposite downwardly inclined faces formingthe bottom of the port, and gas and air fiues leading thereto, whereby the air is directed downwardly into the tank chanber, and the gas striking the advance inclined face of the port block is directed upwardly where it meets the air,'thereby causing combustion to take place before it reaches the tank chainber, substantially as described.

4. In a glass tank furnace, the combination With a tank side wall, of a supplemental supporting wall, parallel to and distinctly-placed therefrom a regenerative furnace, the wall of which forms a gas fiue therebetween and' the supplemental supporting wall, tiles spanning the tank side walls and the Supplenental supporting Wall, skew back blocks on said tiles forming tapering ports, and port blocks inclined from about their middle downwardly in opposite directions, whereby the air from the regenerative furnace is deflected downwardly by the skew back blocks, and the gas defiected upwardly by coming in contact with the advance face of the port blocks, substantially 'as described.

5. In a glass tank furnace, the combination with the tank side walls, of skew back blocks supported thereon and forming induction ports with downwardly inclined roofs, an inport block in the bottom of 'said port formed with an apex and downwardly inclined faces extending from said apex, a defiector wall projecting into the port, the under surface of which is inclined upwardly to conform to the inclination of one of the faces of the inport block, and individual air and gas fiues leading to said port, substantially. as described.

In testirnon y Whereof I have affixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses, this 18th day of May, 1892.

WILLIAM F. MODES. Witnesses:

A. RAMEL, H. K. WAGNER.

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